Independent Members of Parliament Jane Philpott and Jody Wilson-Raybould speak with the media before Question Period in the Foyer of the House of Commons in Ottawa, Wednesday April 3, 2019. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld)

Trudeau acknowledges SNC dispute, but some young would-be MPs turn backs on PM

Trudeau was addressing 338 young women who are taking part in the program

Justin Trudeau is acknowledging the internal strife roiling his Liberal government, telling a group of young women that politics is often about reconciling opposite perspectives and differences of opinion.

But about 48 of the young would-be MPs taking part in the Daughters of the Vote event on the floor of the House of Commons didn’t want to hear it, turning their backs on the prime minister as he spoke.

Trudeau was addressing 338 young women who are taking part in the program, which encourages young women to get involved in politics — some of whom have already used their social media feeds to register their displeasure with the prime minister.

On Tuesday, Trudeau expelled former cabinet ministers Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott out of the Liberal caucus for what he described as breaking the bonds of trust with their fellow MPs over the government’s handling of the SNC-Lavalin affair.

The move has fuelled accusations that the Liberals have abandoned their 2015 campaign commitments to Indigenous reconciliation and gender equality.

The SNC controversy has engulfed the government for nearly two months following Wilson-Raybould’s allegations that as attorney general, she was improperly pressured by the Prime Minister’s Office to intervene in criminal proceedings against the Montreal-based engineering giant.